1. Field of the Invention
Efficient dynamo-based production of electrical power in environmental energy harvesting and other applications in which the dynamo rotor is driven at low and variable revolutions per minute. Specific applications include powering systems aboard unmanned maritime platforms and wind power generation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Extraction of useful energy from locally available environmental sources is becoming vitally important to a wide range of applications, and immediately so for remote sensing and communications devices for military and civilian uses. A common element in all devices that harvest environmental energy from kinetic sources such as moving wind or water is the electrical dynamo, which must be capable of operating without an external source of current and therefore typically utilizes permanent magnets. Numerous electrical dynamo designs exist and are patented. In particular, these designs include vertical and horizontal axis wind turbines and kinetic power pendulum-type devices which respond to X-Y forces (with respect to the pendulum's rotational axis).